203 – 202 BC
Hannibal returns to Africa
Recalled by the Carthaginian Senate, Hannibal leaves Italy after fifteen years. Short of ships, he takes few horses and leaves many recent recruits behind. He sails from Croton and lands at Leptis Parva, about 140 km south of Carthage, with 15,000 to 20,000 veterans, and gathers a new army at Hadrumetum. Mago’s army also returns from northern Italy, though Mago dies of wounds on the voyage.
The Roman Senate has ratified a draft peace, but with Hannibal back, Carthage repudiates it. Scipio storms the towns of the hinterland one after another and sells their people as slaves. Hannibal waits for 2,000 Numidian cavalry, then marches inland for five days and camps near Zama, 3 km from the Romans. Masinissa reaches Scipio just in time with 6,000 Numidian infantry and 4,000 cavalry.
The meeting of Scipio and Hannibal before the battle, engraving, 1796Wikimedia Commons, Rijksmuseum, CC0 (Ontmoeting tussen Scipio en Hannibal, RP-P-1905-2155.jpg)
Polybius and Livy tell of a meeting between the two commanders before the battle, with only interpreters present. Hannibal offers peace, with Carthage giving up all claim to Sicily, Sardinia and Iberia, and Scipio refuses.
Sources
- Polybius, Histories, book 15, 1 to 8.
- Livy, History of Rome, book 30, 19 to 31.
- Adrian Goldsworthy, The Fall of Carthage (2006).
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